Honig Unveils $1.5-Billion School-Reform Plan

California's state school chief and two key lawmakers unveiled a
comprehensive $1.5-billion legislative package last week that they said
was designed to "keep the reform movement going'' in public
education.

The proposed five-year program, which is focused primarily on
improving the skills of new teachers and lowering pupil-teacher ratios,
drew immediate criticism from Gov. George Deukmejian, who chastised its
sponsors for failing to say how the effort would be financed.

The Governor and the state superintendent of public instruction,
Bill Honig, have been engaged in a fierce public debate over the past
several weeks over the adequacy of Mr. Deukmejian's proposal to spend
$16 billion for precollegiate education in the upcoming fiscal year.
(See Education Week, Jan. 21, 1987.)

While the Governor maintains that amount would raise state aid to
schools by 4 percent, Mr. Honig contends it would fall about $600
million short of the amount needed for schools to maintain their
current level of services.

The plan proposed by Mr. Honig and the lawmakers would restorethe
$600 million that they say would be cut under the Governor's budget
plan, and authorize another $900- million in new programs, beginning in
fiscal 1987-88.

'Teaching Hospitals'

Among the proposed initiatives is the selection of 12
schools--comparable to "teaching hospitals'' for medical interns and
residents--where new teachers would be given the opportunity to develop
their skills. If approved, the program would be the first of its kind
adopted on a statewide basis. (See Education Week, Nov. 19, 1986.)

The omnibus bill, which is being co-sponsored by State Senator
Robert Presley and Assemblyman John Vasconcellos, the chairmen of their
chambers' appropriations committees, would also:

Raise the salaries of beginning teachers to $27,000, from a
current average of about $21,000.

Expand the state's "mentor teacher'' program, which provides
$4,000 annual stipends for instructors who earn the designation. Only
5 percent of the state's total teaching force is eligible for
mentor-teacher status under current law; the proposal would raise the
limit to 10 percent.

Require first-year teachers to spend 80 percent of their time in
the classroom and the remaining 20 percent in instructional programs
headed by mentor teachers and administrators. The state would pay the
salaries of new teachers for the time they spend in the
programs.

Abolish the use of "emergency'' certificates for teachers in
shortage areas.

Class Sizes

The plan outlined by Mr. Honig would also provide funds to reduce
class sizes in high-school mathematics, science, and writing
courses.

According to Bill Rukeyser, a special assistant to Mr. Honig,
although most state educators agree that class sizes need to be reduced
at all grade levels, the proposal reflects the "political reality''
that the cost of such an effort would be prohibitive.

The proposal, he said, would give the state "more bang for the
buck'' by focusing on courses that educational researchers say benefit
most from lower pupil-teacher ratios.

In his budget address, Mr. Deukmejian proposed a controversial
trade-off that would pay for smaller class sizes in the 1st grade by
eliminating several categorical programs for gifted and disadvantaged
students. Mr. Rukeyser noted that Mr. Honig's plan would preserve
funding for those programs.

Investment in Future

"This is an investment that will pay off threefold and fourfold,''
Mr. Honig said during a March 9 press conference in Sacramento to
announce the introduction of the bill.

"It will pay off by making quality people available to do the
high-technology work that will need doing as we move into the next
century,'' he said. "And it will pay off by reducing the staggering
prison costs facing this state, because statistics prove that
well-educated persons rarely become prison inmates.''

In a statement released later the same day, Governor Deukmejian
said: "I am not impressed with those who advance new ideas without
identifying where the money would come from to pay for them.''

Mr. Vasconcellos, the chairman of the Assembly's appropriations
panel, said he would introduce a "revenue enhancement'' proposal
shortly to help provide funds for Mr. Honig's proposal. While he
declined to give details, he suggested that additional revenue could be
obtained by closing loopholes in the administration of the state's 6
percent sales tax.

Correspondent Bob Schmidt in Sacramento contributed to this
report.

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